Wings of Victory Air Show : Vintage Fliers Descend on Brown Field

The seven Nazi flags on the back of John Asmussen’s aging flight jacket represent the number of German fighters the crew of his B-17 bomber shot down over Europe and the Mediterranean.

Two of the kills were registered to Asmussen, a tail gunner and a veteran of 50 bombing missions aboard the venerable “Yankee Lady.” Now, 46 years after Asmussen flew his last combat mission, he was facing a lanky ex-German fighter pilot who flew one of the hundreds of FW-190s and ME-109s that swarmed over the American bombers when they flew into Germany.

“One of these swastikas was supposed to be for him. . . . He flew an FW-190, but he could never hit me . . . even with all his firepower. I never let him get close to our plane,” Asmussen said.

“Yeah, but you missed, John,” responded E. (Rudy) Rudat. “ . . . When I got back to my base, I wondered about all the blue and green spots on my plane. Some of you guys were shooting jelly beans at us.”

‘I Was Never a Nazi’

Asmussen, 68, and Rudat are two of several World War II fliers who will be at Brown Field this weekend at the Wings of Victory Air Show. The show, which features the Harlingen, Tex.-based Confederate Air Force, also includes several vintage WWII aircraft.

Rudat, who also flew on the Russian front, actually confronted Asmussen’s 97th Bomber Group over Germany in 1942. Today, the two former adversaries are “colonels” in the CAF and live in San Diego.

“I was never a Nazi. I was a fighter pilot,” said Rudat, who was wearing an old Luftwaffe hat. “I’m an American citizen now and very proud of that. I’m a better citizen than some people who were born here.”

The air show also includes a restored B-17, much like the one Asmussen flew during the war. Asmussen, originally from South Dakota, was the youngest member of the 10-man crew, and was called “Junior” by his colleagues.

As a tail gunner, Asmussen spent the entire flight, sometimes up to four hours, kneeling behind his twin .50-caliber guns. Each fired up to 900 rounds of ammunition per mission, using quick, short bursts. As the smallest member of the crew, Asmussen’s duties also included arming the bombs in the bomb bay. And, if need be, he crawled through the fuselage to the other end of the plane to kick loose any bombs that got stuck.

“I enjoyed being a tail gunner. There was more action in the tail than any other place on the aircraft . . . At the time, I think that every young guy had a passion for flying. We were gung-ho. We wanted to get into the action.”

Deaths Were Exaggerated

Asmussen and his crew had their share of close calls, but none compared to the time they were shot up over Grosetto, Italy. An Associated Press reporter who accompanied the formation saw the “Yankee Lady” get hit and fall out of formation.

“We lost two engines and fell back, alone. We got down on the deck (descended) as fast as we could so the fighters couldn’t get us, and were real late getting back to base,” Asmussen said.

Unfortunately, the AP reporter had already filed his story by the time Asmussen’s crew returned and erroneously reported the destruction of the aircraft and its crew.

“Our parents read in the papers that we were dead, and there were some anxious moments,” Asmussen said.

While Asmussen spoke with a visitor, Jim Khougaz of Ventura listened intently. Finally, Khougaz volunteered that he too was a B-17 tail gunner during the war, with the 99th Bomber Group.

“The 99th? Hell, I helped train you guys in Nebraska before you went overseas,” Asmussen said.

Khougaz cracked a smile. “I thought so. We had some veterans from the 97th training us. Boy, that was a long, long time ago.”

Later, Asmussen talked about the aging planes and the fliers who keep them flying.

“It won’t be long before all of us are going to die, and these planes will only be museum pieces,” Asmussen said. “It’s getting more and more expensive to keep them flying. We have a special affection for them because we used them to fight our country’s last great war. Who’s going to care about them after we’re gone?”